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American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, including ancestry, US citizenship status, educational attainment, income, language proficiency, migration, disability, employment, and housing characteristics. None of the respondents' personal information is released, and it is only used statistically in these data, which are used by many public-sector, private-sector, and not-for-profit stakeholders to allocate funding, track shifting demographics, plan for emergencies, and learn about local communities.
Sent to approximately 295,000 addresses monthly, or 3.5 million addresses annually, it is the largest household survey that the Census Bureau administers.
The American Community Survey gathers information annually in the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. Data is also collected in Puerto Rico via the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS), which is part of the ACS. It does not gather information on the other four major U.S. Island areas: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea.
Article I, Section II of the Constitution of the United States of 1787, adopted in 1788, requires an enumeration of the population every ten years "in such Manner as they (Congress) shall by Law direct". From the first United States Decennial Census three years later in 1790, congressional legislators understood that it should also collect basic demographic information beyond just the number of people in the household. James Madison, an American Founding Father and the fourth President of the United States, first proposed including additional questions in the U.S. Decennial Census to "enable them to adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community". Such knowledge collected with each census, President Madison argued, "would give them an opportunity of marking the progress of the society". The questions included in censuses since 1790 have reflected American understandings of and concerns about societal trends and the growing nation's expanded data needs.
By 130 years later in 1940, advancements in statistical methods and knowledge enabled the administrators and statisticians /mathematicians of the United States Census Bureau (Bureau of the Census), first established in 1902 within the United States Department of Commerce, to begin asking a sample of the American population a sub-set of additional detailed questions without unduly increasing cost or respondent burden. In the decades that followed, new questions were added to those that had previously been asked of all respondents, and all the questions were moved to the sample questionnaire form. As the sample form grew longer than the census form itself, it became known as the Census "long form".
Following the 1960 U.S. Decennial Census, federal, state, and local governmental officials and some in the private sector began demanding more timely long-form-type data. Lawmakers representing rural districts claimed they were at a data disadvantage, unable to self-fund additional surveys of their populations. Congress explored the creation of a mid-decade census, holding hearings and even authorizing a special mid-decade census in the American Bicentennial year of 1976, but not funding it.
Efforts to obtain data on a more frequent basis began again after the 1990 U.S. Decennial Census when it became clear that the more burdensome long form was depressing overall census response rates and jeopardizing the accuracy of the count. At the Congress's request, the U.S. Census Bureau in the United States Department of Commerce developed and tested a new design to obtain long-form data. Noted U.S. statistician/mathematician Leslie Kish, had introduced the concept of a rolling sample (or continuous measurement) design in 1981. This design featured ongoing, monthly data collection aggregated every year, enabling annual data releases. By combining multiple years of this data, the Census Bureau could release "period" estimates to produce estimates for smaller areas. After a decade of testing, it launched as the American Community Survey in 2005, replacing the once-a-decade census long form.
The American Community Survey initially sampled approximately 3.5 million housing unit addresses and group quarters in the United States. The Census Bureau selects a random sample of addresses to be included in the ACS. Each address has about a 1-in-480 chance of being selected in a given month, and no address should be selected more than once every five years. Data is collected by internet, mail, telephone interviews, and in-person interviews. The questionnaire is available in English and Spanish, with assistance provided in additional languages. Approximately one-third of those who do not respond to the survey by mail or telephone are randomly selected for in-person interviews. About 95 percent of households across all response modes ultimately participate in the survey.
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American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, including ancestry, US citizenship status, educational attainment, income, language proficiency, migration, disability, employment, and housing characteristics. None of the respondents' personal information is released, and it is only used statistically in these data, which are used by many public-sector, private-sector, and not-for-profit stakeholders to allocate funding, track shifting demographics, plan for emergencies, and learn about local communities.
Sent to approximately 295,000 addresses monthly, or 3.5 million addresses annually, it is the largest household survey that the Census Bureau administers.
The American Community Survey gathers information annually in the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. Data is also collected in Puerto Rico via the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS), which is part of the ACS. It does not gather information on the other four major U.S. Island areas: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea.
Article I, Section II of the Constitution of the United States of 1787, adopted in 1788, requires an enumeration of the population every ten years "in such Manner as they (Congress) shall by Law direct". From the first United States Decennial Census three years later in 1790, congressional legislators understood that it should also collect basic demographic information beyond just the number of people in the household. James Madison, an American Founding Father and the fourth President of the United States, first proposed including additional questions in the U.S. Decennial Census to "enable them to adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community". Such knowledge collected with each census, President Madison argued, "would give them an opportunity of marking the progress of the society". The questions included in censuses since 1790 have reflected American understandings of and concerns about societal trends and the growing nation's expanded data needs.
By 130 years later in 1940, advancements in statistical methods and knowledge enabled the administrators and statisticians /mathematicians of the United States Census Bureau (Bureau of the Census), first established in 1902 within the United States Department of Commerce, to begin asking a sample of the American population a sub-set of additional detailed questions without unduly increasing cost or respondent burden. In the decades that followed, new questions were added to those that had previously been asked of all respondents, and all the questions were moved to the sample questionnaire form. As the sample form grew longer than the census form itself, it became known as the Census "long form".
Following the 1960 U.S. Decennial Census, federal, state, and local governmental officials and some in the private sector began demanding more timely long-form-type data. Lawmakers representing rural districts claimed they were at a data disadvantage, unable to self-fund additional surveys of their populations. Congress explored the creation of a mid-decade census, holding hearings and even authorizing a special mid-decade census in the American Bicentennial year of 1976, but not funding it.
Efforts to obtain data on a more frequent basis began again after the 1990 U.S. Decennial Census when it became clear that the more burdensome long form was depressing overall census response rates and jeopardizing the accuracy of the count. At the Congress's request, the U.S. Census Bureau in the United States Department of Commerce developed and tested a new design to obtain long-form data. Noted U.S. statistician/mathematician Leslie Kish, had introduced the concept of a rolling sample (or continuous measurement) design in 1981. This design featured ongoing, monthly data collection aggregated every year, enabling annual data releases. By combining multiple years of this data, the Census Bureau could release "period" estimates to produce estimates for smaller areas. After a decade of testing, it launched as the American Community Survey in 2005, replacing the once-a-decade census long form.
The American Community Survey initially sampled approximately 3.5 million housing unit addresses and group quarters in the United States. The Census Bureau selects a random sample of addresses to be included in the ACS. Each address has about a 1-in-480 chance of being selected in a given month, and no address should be selected more than once every five years. Data is collected by internet, mail, telephone interviews, and in-person interviews. The questionnaire is available in English and Spanish, with assistance provided in additional languages. Approximately one-third of those who do not respond to the survey by mail or telephone are randomly selected for in-person interviews. About 95 percent of households across all response modes ultimately participate in the survey.
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